Found a backup of this, so I guess I can bottle kill this! Mind you 70% of the bottle left so I guess I don't do it tonight. Nose - sweet and delicate, caramel, hints of earth, a bit of sherry, and yes peat. A deeper nose I get a hint of oak. As it opens I get more and more oak and caramel. A lot more bourbon like than anything else I've seen from Japan. Normally I get a lot more citrus fruits from japan. Taste - I get a note that's clearly and distinctly a blend. It opens vanilla, moves to some oak and caramel, then I get sherry, and finally I get some peat and oak. Then on the finish I get that burnt vanilla, oak, and some lingering peat. There are some of those citrus fruits in here, the barrel char is limited, some butter scotch now. Complex, nuanced, but I'm wondering if this was chill filtered. It doesn't drink like a 50+% whisky but at the same time I get a nice bit of texture at first. Anyway - 70 bucks now. It's very good. I can see why this is winning awards, but it's not for me an award winning level whisky. It's one I'd like to always have on my shelves (or right now in my closet overflow). 3.25 I just can't go higher given it's a bit thin on the finish and I just don't get any older whisky notes, smooth as heck yes, but it's not giving me older whisky notes. Whisky from Japan is if well made always pretty smooth. This is where my scoring system feels off. I need a wow note for things as they approach 4.0 but this is just perfect for what it is. Balanced, tame alcohol, refined, complex. This is a whisky where if you like whisky, you'll like this. But will you be wowed? Only if you've not had true wow bottles. I feel like I should add points for just being "perfect" in being what it is, but that's not how I've scored other bottles.